S14.E08: Restaurant Wars

[3jt]

ok, my 2 cents: agreed that both Katsuji and John could both go- don't care which, just go. It looked to me like Kats was demanding that John and Sheldon drop whatever they were doing to "help" (sous chef for) him. I think that and the disruptive behavior by both of the boys is what through Sheldon off- he did successfully make stews at least twice before. John's dish was just nasty- no way around it- and I thought that he wanted to make it so it would be done ahead of time freeing him to help Kats.... the whole damned thing was a cluster and a 1/2. Casey should have told one of the servers to cover her when she realized that John was doing fuck all- and she was going to have to plate 17 portions of her desert.

Someone up thread said that they haven't worked in kitchens before but John's system sounded like b.s.- I have worked in kitchens before and I have never heard expediting like that. The numbering systems tend to be simple, clear and concise so that everyone knows what is up, what is next and where it goes.

[cooksdelight]

When Sheldon said he'd like to be executive chef, John jumped in and said he wanted to do it. Katsuji had nothing to do with that decision. I watched it twice to be sure what I saw and heard was accurate. John likes to revise history to suit his own needs. But Katsuji's food was his undoing.

Katsuji doesn't know how to fix southern food. I saw nothing southern on that menu except maybe Casey's dessert. I don't know what John was thinking when he put crab into cheese spread. That makes me gag just thinking about it.

But the biggest blunder??? They said it was a family style restaurant. It wasn't. There were no big bowls or platters set out for people to pull their portions from. Everything was plated. They should have lost for that alone.

[snarktini]

10 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

But the biggest blunder??? They said it was a family style restaurant. It wasn't. There were no big bowls or platters set out for people to pull their portions from. Everything was plated. They should have lost for that alone.

The judges said something similar. However, I thought the food did come in bowls/platters, they were just looked like the size of regular plates. They seemed to be, for lack of better terminology, family style small plates.

Sheldon's stew came out in a shared bowl about the size of a soup bowl, and everyone had to spoon out their portion onto their plate. For the tamales, they received a shared platter with 3 tamales (not 6, the size of the group) and Tom made a crack about having to share small plate portions. That may have been a server error.

Edited January 20, 2017 by snarktini

[susannot]

I felt that the editors didn't even try to draw out the suspense, so obvious was the winning team due to the dick-a thon between John and Katsuji.  They both came off looking terrible in the episode.

I felt so sorry for Sylva.  Wonder if the arsonist was ever caught?  It's sad that he was so stressed that he started losing his hair, because he looked hot with those dreads.

[Snewtsie]

17 hours ago, snarktini said:

Question: Are the wrong things going to the wrong tables more the fault of FOH or the expeditor?

If plates go to the wrong tables, the Expeditor is at fault.  They are told of any special requests made by the diners, communicate it to the cooks, & make sure all plates for a particular table are ready at the same time, & the plates are presentable.  Because they are the only person who knows what set of dishes should go to which table number (and when the plates are ready), they are ultimately responsible for making sure the correct server pick them up for delivery (to the correct table). 

Front of House, greets, seats & serves (protocol of how food is served, not whether the correct dishes are served).

John was 100% in the weeds from the very beginning.  He had no idea how to read & organize the tickets, and caused a ton of confusion.  I don't know why a comment was made that FOH (Casey) was responsible for plates going to the wrong tables.  I forget who made the comment, but that made no sense.  I think the person may have been implying the servers weren't trained adequately on which plates to grab, and even though Casey would have trained them on FOH duties, it still would have been John's job to make sure they grabbed the correct plates.

[susannot]

If you want to see a masterful job of expediting, search for the "Restaurant Takeover" episode of Masterchef Canada, Season 2.  Season winner David Jorge took over in the kitchen and just destroyed the challenge.  At least if my memory is correct.

[bluepiano]

Katsuji said he picked John over Emily because he was a better, more experienced chef, but that was so obviously not going to turn out well. He might've had problems with Emily too, but it wouldn't have been two alpha dogs going at it.

I was very confused by the Blue Team's "family style" concept, because to me that means putting everything out on large platters and then the diners serving themselves. But they had individual plates. And if everybody was supposed to get everything, as they said, why was there such confusion with the servers as to which tables got which dishes?

On top of that, how can you call your restaurant "Southern Belle" and then not serve a southern meal? Tamales? Beef tongue? It was like the entire season up until now, with its focusing on Charlestown and southern food, hadn't happened.

Worst Restaurant Wars team ever.

Still, Brooke and Shirley snickering while the Blue Team was getting slammed by the judges wasn't nice. (Maybe it was editor's tricks).

I missed Jim. He would've made a wonderful front-of-house. And/or cooked some kick ass true southern food.

Edited January 20, 2017 by bluepiano

[DHDancer]

Maybe they thought sitting at big tables on benches constituted "family style"?  I wouldn't be surprised given how screwed up their thinking was... Count me among those who would have hi-fived a double elimination.

Slightly tangential: I would LOVE to see a challenge where no fish, no crudo/raw anything, no short ribs are allowed -- I'm so sick of these and I'm sorry, I think fish, esp scallops, and crudo are a cop-out (disclosure, I hate fish, fatty meat, and offal).  I'd love to see a challenge where they are asked to make a meal for 4 people under $20 (or better yet, $10!) that had to meet a balanced nutritional goal as well.  And how about going for broke and, let's make it a full vegetarian challenge, lol!!

[Jobiska]

27 minutes ago, bluepiano said:

Still, Brooke and Shirley snickering while the Blue Team was getting slammed by the judges wasn't nice. (Maybe it was editor's tricks).

I saw that more as laughing in sheer disbelief at the bickering etc.  

[jelley]

So glad the judges sent K home. I thought his last lines to the camera said it all. Something like "I'm making history. This is the first time a cook has gone home in Restaurant Wars". He totally gave John the EC job because that was the riskier job. It is always the EC or the FOH that goes home, so he wanted to just cook and be safe. And make sure Tesar went home if things went bad. Also, his ndless slow clap enraged even me, sitting on my comfy couch at home. And I have no love for Tesar.

[Madding crowd]

Katsuji didn't give John the job. His knife pull was about choosing the team, not being in charge of the team. Shirley got the knife pull and just assumed she would be in charge but the team had to agree with it. Sheldon wanted to be leader and John cut him off by claiming 'more experience ". Katsuji is responsible for how his food tasted but not for John.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Madding crowd

[cpcathy]

But more often than not, the judges don't like the person who pulls the knife puts someone else in charge. How many times have I heard, "Why didn't you make yourself executive chef?" It's easier to throw someone under the bus if they were put in charge and failed.

[jelley]

I feel (and I think the judges did as well) that Katsuji was the team leader by virtue of pulling the knife. Since the EC is the leader of the kitchen, Katsuji abdicated his leadership to John. So he could just cook.

[RealReality]

15 minutes ago, jelley said:

I feel (and I think the judges did as well) that Katsuji was the team leader by virtue of pulling the knife. Since the EC is the leader of the kitchen, Katsuji abdicated his leadership to John. So he could just cook.

I think Katsuji felt like he was the team leader as well, since I believe he said he "gave" John the EC position because he had so much experience.  It wasn't "the team decided that John should be EC for reasons x, y, and z"

[phoenix780]

1 hour ago, cooksdelight said:

But the biggest blunder??? They said it was a family style restaurant. It wasn't. There were no big bowls or platters set out for people to pull their portions from. Everything was plated. They should have lost for that alone.

What they did seemed to me more like tapas than family style. It's still shared, but the portions are smaller because the intent is that you can get a lot of different types of things for the group without necessarily ordering a lot of food. I wonder if they only called it family to tie into their half-assed Southern theme.

Which...I was surprised by the fact that the blue team had much more time to think about the concept and organizing service and they still did that badly. When they announced that the challenges was over two days, I thought that extra time was a bit of an unfair advantage.  Guess not.

[spiderpig]

7 hours ago, bitchin camaro said:

MVP of the episode was the kitchen worker in the background who was giving the stink eye to everything the blue team did. I hope he wasn't the one stuck cleaning up their ridiculous mess.

You made me do it - review the ep On Demand with all the mandatory commercials so I could see Stinkeye Guy.  I missed him in the original viewing.  Hilarious.  Henceforth I'll put the candidates on the back burner and focus on the support staff for entertainment.

(Reminds me of having to watch Wizard of Oz with the kids for the zillionth time, having seen it a zillion times before  as a kid myself.  I got through it by focusing on Toto the entire movie.  Amazing little actor!  Best Performance by a Terrier for Toto!)

[SuburbanHangSuite]

2 hours ago, susannot said:

I felt so sorry for Sylva.  Wonder if the arsonist was ever caught?  

I live in Philly and seem to recall that they caught some nut who claimed he was a contractor.   I think he may have been angry that he wasn't one of the contractors on that construction job.  Philly is notorious for contractor disputes--Union vs. Non Union.  It's a shame because business owners get caught in the middle and make people shy away from doing business within city limits.  

Stink Eye Kitchen Worker was the best.  He looked ready to break out the popcorn at one point.

[seltzer3]

Yeah, I'm glad to see Katsuji go (Him slow clapping was so ugly). John has bad moments, but I just totally side with John, in the John/Katsuji feud this episode. John also defended Emily too, when Katsuji was being a dick to her in the beginning of the episode.

Katsuji making a giant mess in the kitchen (and having Casey clean after him), also makes me glad he got eliminated. I can't imagine seeing him in his restaurant. Maybe he should not cook with 20 ingredients, for the sake of his cleanliness. 

I can't stand Padma, but I was glad that she advocated for sparing Casey.

Poor Sheldon. He looked so uncomfortable during judges table. At the end, you can clearly see him standing further away from John and Katsuji. With his red hat, he looked like a turtle wanting to hide inside his shell. Lol

[BalsoSnell]

During his exit interview, Katsugi said that he was the first cook ever to be sent home in a RW challenge.  I suspect his strategy was to let John, as EC, be the fall guy if their team should lose.  If so, I'm glad it bit him in the ass.

[RealReality]

2 minutes ago, BalsoSnell said:

During his exit interview, Katsugi said that he was the first cook ever to be sent home in a RW challenge.  I suspect his strategy was to let John, as EC, be the fall guy if their team should lose.  If so, I'm glad it bit him in the ass.

I think so.  If they win, hero Katsuji with three dishes can take all the credit (even though the other chefs had to do a lot of his work)

If they lose either FOH or EC goes home.  Katsuji gets spared because he took on so much work doing three dishes while everyone else was just being a lazy asshole.

[pivot]

11 minutes ago, seltzer3 said:

 John also defended Emily too, when Katsuji was being a dick to her in the beginning of the episode.

That's a good point. As much as John can be a prick, he doesn't punch down as much as Katsuji does. Katsuji got off on bullying Emily and other chefs who wouldn't stand up to him. I can't take one more Top Chef season centered around bullying after Texas, season 2 and Vegas so I was thrilled to see him go and that no one else joined in the bullying.

[Bastet]

Quote

 

If they win, hero Katsuji with three dishes can take all the credit (even though the other chefs had to do a lot of his work)

If they lose either FOH or EC goes home.  Katsuji gets spared because he took on so much work doing three dishes while everyone else was just being a lazy asshole.

 

He didn't get quite that explicit, but he pretty much stated that as his strategy.

Quote

John also defended Emily too, when Katsuji was being a dick to her in the beginning of the episode.

I'm glad you posted that, because I meant to ask last night who it was who told Katsuji now was not the time when he was doing his evil little routine on Emily when they got back home after last episode's elimination, but forgot. 

So, another example of Katsuji out-assholing John Fricking Tesar.

Katsuji's restaurant is good; nothing special or worth making a trip for, but a tasty lunch when I happen to be in the area.  After this, though, there's no way I'd give him another dime of my money.

[RealReality]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

He didn't get quite that explicit, but he pretty much stated that as his strategy.

I thought it was extra precious, as he shittalked JT for being a 1970's chef that didn't do much work, but wanted to ride on the effort of his team for success.....when that was pretty much what Katsuji wanted to do.

[Spunkygal]

13 hours ago, dleighg said:

My comments: 

Why was Padma wearing a red carpet dress to the second dinner?

I just assumed she was in Victoria's Secret trying on sexy stuff when her assistant rushed in telling her that she is needed on set immediately. So she just runs out of VS with the negligee on.

[Quilt Fairy]

8 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

Mr. MaddingCrowd asked why Padma had the girls on full display last night. She is a beautiful woman but sometimes overdoes the dress up.

I doubt he was complaining, though.

[susannot]

OK I had to re-watch and FF just to see skank-eye kitchen guy.  I'm looking at him now, as he is recoiling in disgust from the Tongue..  Wish I could post a photo here because he is awesome.

 

And again where the fighting between Jon and Katsuji begins to accelerate--  "i did your tomatoes.  I took over your dish so you could do your cobbler."  Watching again, John was as big an a-hole as Katsuji and had many opportunities to turn it down a notch, but he didn't.

Edited January 21, 2017 by susannot

[susannot]

I think I figured out what went wrong with John's brilliant expediting system.  He didn't explain his numbering method to the servers.  Just now, a server came in and John asked her "Is the tongue for two?"  She said "It's table 4.  There's 2 people."  I think all night John and the servers were talking at cross -purposes over the table numbers vs. the numbers of people.  What they should have done was put up a chart of tables and refer to them by the same numbers every time.

[awaken]

45 minutes ago, susannot said:

OK I had to re-watch and FF just to see skank-eye kitchen guy.  I'm looking at him now, as he is recoiling in disgust from the Tongue..  Wish I could post a photo here because he is awesome.

 

 

Ha, noticed that guy and loved it!  Awesome moment caught in camera. 

[Corgi-ears]

[Happytobehere]

So the editing monkeys were not at play this week when we got the Katsuji team crashing and burning.  I was waiting for the "But they managed to make a spectacular meal and rise above their issues" trope.  

I won't miss Katsuji, but hate that once again we get to see more of Emily, which is never going to be a good thing IMO.

Brooke clearly is being set up to be the winner, although I would prefer it to be Shirley, Sheldon or Sylva.

[Canada]

I didn't like John or Katsuji before and I don't like them this season.  I was also hoping for a double elimination.  I think Katsuji was the worse of the two, so I'm glad to see the back of him.  I disliked him anyway, but his needling of Emily at the start of the episode really showed what kind of person he really is.  I wold never give an asshole like him my money.

[Quilt Fairy]

I loved this part of the PTV article (emphasis added):

Quote

John has his disgusting pink gloop to dollop into bowls, his crab dip in the style of pimiento. Nope, that phrase still doesn't make sense. It still sounds like a guy who just had a stroke trying to communicate what he's doing for karaoke

.

[bluepiano]

7 hours ago, phoenix780 said:

What they did seemed to me more like tapas than family style. It's still shared, but the portions are smaller because the intent is that you can get a lot of different types of things for the group without necessarily ordering a lot of food.

If so, was that ever explained to the diners? I did hear someone on the team (Casey?) say that every diner was going to get every dish. If the diners were still doing individual orders, were they ordering multiple dishes because of the smaller portions? I'm still confused. It was like the Blue Team was overthinking and overcomplicating everything.

Katsuji's slow clapping was so annoying I wondered for a second if John was going to forget that he's no longer "the old John" and charge him. That was certainly a test of his new found inner peace.

Edited January 21, 2017 by bluepiano

[spiderpig]

I don't get the bench thing at all.  It's awkward enough at a picnic at your local park where you're in jeans or shorts and have to get up for whatever reason.  Indoors?  No way if you're in the middle.  You disturb your whole side of the table, and probably embarrass yourself at the same time.

Overall, I was puzzled by both teams' design concepts and really didn't notice much difference in their selection of decor as we've seen in the past.

[biakbiak]

25 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

I don't get the bench thing at all.  It's awkward enough at a picnic at your local park where you're in jeans or shorts and have to get up for whatever reason.  Indoors?  No way if you're in the middle.  You disturb your whole side of the table, and probably embarrass yourself at the same time.

Overall, I was puzzled by both teams' design concepts and really didn't notice much difference in their selection of decor as we've seen in the past.

It seemed to me that they actually served family style to the diners, you could see much larger plates on other tables but then served them as plated dishes for the judges.

Edited January 21, 2017 by biakbiak

[phoenix780]

52 minutes ago, bluepiano said:

If so, was that ever explained to the diners? I did hear someone on the team (Casey?) say that every diner was going to get every dish. If the diners were still doing individual orders, were they ordering multiple dishes because of the smaller portions? I'm still confused. It was like the Blue Team was overthinking and overcomplicating everything.

Katsuji's slow clapping was so annoying I wondered for a second if John was going to forget that he's no longer "the old John" and charge him. That was certainly a test of his new found inner peace.

About the family style thing- I said it reminded me of tapas, on the show they kept saying "family style." And I didn't get how the ordering was working either. Neither did the cheftestants though.

[cooksdelight]

10 hours ago, DHDancer said:

Maybe they thought sitting at big tables on benches constituted "family style"?

 

2 hours ago, spiderpig said:

I don't get the bench thing at all.  It's awkward enough at a picnic at your local park where you're in jeans or shorts and have to get up for whatever reason.  Indoors?  No way if you're in the middle.  You disturb your whole side of the table, and probably embarrass yourself at the same time.

Overall, I was puzzled by both teams' design concepts and really didn't notice much difference in their selection of decor as we've seen in the past.

From the look of things, they both had to use the same furniture that was already supplied. They didn't go shopping for furniture this year, I don't remember them ever having the tables and chairs already picked out for them. 

I didn't see family style dining, with a couple of already noted exceptions. Certainly not at the judges' table.

[hkit]

6 hours ago, susannot said:

And again where the fighting between Jon and Katsuji begins to accelerate--  "i did your tomatoes.  I took over your dish so you could do your cobbler."  Watching again, John was as big an a-hole as Katsuji and had many opportunities to turn it down a notch, but he didn't.

I think John did more than his share to escalate the argument. During the prep, he was demanding an apology. That obviously wasn't coming, and didn't serve to calm down Katsuji. It just threw gas on the flames. Then later, in the stew room. John could have gone in and STFU, but instead, he again implied that Katsuji should apologize (it was a little less direct, along the lines of "do you have something you want to say to me?"). Katsuji is a right asshole and I cannot be happier that he is gone. But John, at his age, should be better equipped at handling conflict.

[holly4755]

OK, I would have liked to see both go, but thought that John was the bigger a-hole.  At least at the restaurant,  while Katsuji was the worst at judges table, never a good thing. 

Here is the thing, they were doomed when they went for family style.  that is it. because they had 2 people tables, 4 people tables and 8 people tables. I think that is what made the confusion.  Normally family style you order the number of platters you want, more people order more platters.  but here they only had 2 choices, so they probably had to vary the amount of food on the platter, which probably led to the "wrong table" comments. It certainly sounded like that with the weird orders John was barking and the total confusion for very few diners. I can see where Sheldon was rattled, but he did not produce an edible dish wither, so losers all around.  send the team home. 

Edited January 21, 2017 by holly4755

[DarkRaichu]

7 hours ago, Happytobehere said:

Brooke clearly is being set up to be the winner, although I would prefer it to be Shirley, Sheldon or Sylva.

Yep that is my take as well.  Those 4 are my top 4 pick, but I suspect Emily will pull some miraculous dish and takes the 4th spot 

22 hours ago, dleighg said:

Why was Padma wearing a red carpet dress to the second dinner?

Why not??? Some people did not mind the view :P :P :P

[SFoster21]

I think Padma looked swell in her gown.

it was a good show.

[leighdear]

Tesar just needs to go.  When they were talking about how many restaurants they've opened, and we get 4, 7, OF COURSE John had to say 20.....Where are they all now, John?  HMMM?   He's got a terminal need for one upsmanship.  

He also seems SO desperate for a legit bad-boy rep like Anthony Bourdain or Marco Pierre White.  Badly behaved yet brilliant in the kitchen, they both eventually sought and received redemption because they were that good.  World class, with savvy & magnetic personalities.   John is not, nor will he ever be in that class. But he obviously likes to pretend he is, because he keeps reminding us about his background, how "hated" he was, etc.

I'd bet most of that was him being an ass, people calling him a douche nozzle, and then them going back to work and forgetting about him.  But he of course sees that as him being "notable".  ;-)

Edited January 21, 2017 by leighdear

[cooksdelight]

John has had a tumultous personal life for a long time, which probably explains all the restaurant openings (and closings). He had a great restaurant in TX that he closed, to open another one, etc. I think he likes the challenge of making something successful then he gets bored. 

Katsuji has a lovely wife and family. I'm not sure what motivates him to say and do things, but I think he doesn't mean harm. John, on the other hand....

[English Teacher]

Katsuji was foolish in his final choice. Had he picked Emily over John, his abrasive bullying would have flustered her to the point of her being unable to create a decent dish. Regardless of her blaming him at JT, I am sure she would have been sent packing.  

[seltzer3]

In terms of Front of House Winner, Stephanie Izard won restaurant wars as FOH in season 4.

Seeing as so many people failed as FOH in the past, Stephanie was boss.  She was a good front of house and made two dishes (a pasta dish, and a cheesecake dish).

[chiaros]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Katsuji has a lovely wife and family. 

So does John Tesar.

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I'm not sure what motivates him to say and do things, but I think he doesn't mean harm. John, on the other hand....

Really? Well, from what I see and hear on the show, he has done a fair bit of harm. More than John, IMO, including the "did he or did he not" discussions about him and Jamie taking on the "bad ingredients".

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Katsuji Tanabe, in his turn on Top Chef Mexico, was also an asshole, but perhaps someone could either corroborate that or link to articles that deny that.

I remember reading that you found him delightful when you ate at his restaurant. Hmm, is it possible that he was, then, in his own place, without any other threats to him as a chef in the vicinity, and sweet-talking his clientele?

[archer1267]

Many years ago I had a friend who was a waitress. The manager/owner never had his waitstaff's back, and if there was a ever a complaint, he would say "not my fault" and try to palm it off on the servers.

After this last episode and watching Katsuji, it struck me that he probably runs his restaurant the same way.

[ProudMary]

14 hours ago, bluepiano said:

Katsuji's slow clapping was so annoying I wondered for a second if John was going to forget that he's no longer "the old John" and charge him. That was certainly a test of his new found inner peace.

I'm sure that was the exact button Katsuji was looking to push!  You've got to give Tesar credit for not going there.  Whatever techniques he's been given to manage his anger, they're certainly working.

[Canada]

Katsuji absolutely means harm with what he does.  His actions on the show prove that beyond a doubt.  Just look at his needling of Emily.  Only an asshole trying to cause harm would do that.  If John Tesar is telling you to stop, then you're a really nasty person.  His lovely wife and child have nothing to do with Katsuji and the type of person he really is.  I feel sorry for them for having to be around such an abusive dickhead.

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, chiaros said:

I remember reading that you found him delightful when you ate at his restaurant. Hmm, is it possible that he was, then, in his own place, without any other threats to him as a chef in the vicinity, and sweet-talking his clientele?

The first time I met Katsuji, I was the only person there and we just talked. He didn't urge me to try any food, we just talked about TC, his background, his love of cooking. I subsequently went back when I was in the neighborhood and it was lunchtime, to eat, and he wasn't there. So no, he wasn't being nice to me in order to get my money.

As for John, never met him but have read both the good and the bad. Why he walked away from four restaurants in 2016 is anyone's guess. He closed up and moved on to open a new spot. Then there's this...

http://radaronline.com/celebrity-news/john-tesar-top-chef-charged-family-violence-drug-paraphernalia/